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"2024 Approved Lights, Camera, Action! - YouTube's #17 Essentials"
Lights, Camera, Action! - YouTube’s #17 Essentials
17 Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Great lighting is important if you want people to watch your YouTube videos from start to finish. Viewers want to be able to see you clearly and will click away if they cannot. Natural light works great, and it’s cheap, so if it is possible you might want to consider vlogging outside. Of course, not every type of vlog is suited to the outdoors.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to get good quality light from the lamps and ceiling lights in your home. Floor lamps can be useful for filling shadows or backlighting but are not usually powerful enough to use as your main light. Natural light is, so one way you can get around needing a lot of lighting equipment is to use a window as your main light. This is not always possible, though. If you are going to vlog from inside your house then there is a good chance you will need to invest in some lighting equipment.
- Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
- Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
- Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video Shooting
Part 1: Best Types of Lightning Equipment for YouTube Videos
Every video no matter how long or short depends on light, more than anything else. The natural light sources are often not powerful enough to light a scene you’re trying to capture, so to avoid having to deal with underexposed footage, the best solution is to use artificial lighting. Even if you want the light in your video to be completely natural, you still have to figure out a way to get rid of shadows, which brings us back to different types of lighting equipment that can be used to increase the quality of the footage you’re producing.
1. Softbox Lights
Shooting videos with only natural light will put a lot of challenges in front of you, and the best way to overcome them is to use softbox lights. These natural light emulators mimic the natural light by using diffusion panels to make the light look softer and less artificial.
Softbox lights enable you to direct light to the exact spot in the shot, and they make lighting subjects and particular parts of a scene much easier. Softboxes are available in all shapes and sizes at very reasonable prices, and they are a standard part of the equipment used for the production of YouTube videos.
2. Umbrella Lights
The newcomers to the world of YouTube video production are going to love using these lights. The umbrella lights provide a much broader source of light than the softbox lights and they are frequently used to light the entire scene. You can also add extra light on the video’s subject if you’re looking to get a more balanced shot.
They are portable and quite handy if you often shoot in different locations since you can easily pack and carry them to wherever you plan on shooting your next YouTube video.
3. Ring Lights
Although they are most frequently used for fashion and beauty videos, ring lights are a great option whenever you need to make sure that the subjects of the video are perfectly lit. These circular lights have an amount in the center, so the camera’s point of view is identical to the direction from which the light is coming.
Ring lights are powerful enough to provide light for an entire scene, and they also work nicely as a catch or fill light. Some of the most popular YouTubers like Casy Neistat or PewDiePie use ring lights in their videos.
Part 2: What Should Good Lighting Equipment Feature?
Now that you know which types of lights are commonly used on YouTube video sets, you can start looking at models that best fit your demands. There are thousands of different studio lights on the market, but only the best offer features that make the light setup process easier and faster. So before buying your lighting equipment, you should make sure that it has the following features.
1. Adjustable Beam Spread
The equipment you use should allow you to control how wide the light is spreading. This is particularly useful when you want to light just one subject in the shot while keeping the rest in the dark. Lights with an adjustable beam spread to give you versatility and enable you to adapt to a wider range of scenes.
2. The Height of the Light Stand
Most lighting kits include stands, but not all stands allow you to change the height at which the light is positioned. This can largely limit your options on the set, which is why you need to check if the stand is adjustable. You’ll also want to do a background check on the stand’s durability, because low-quality stands may cause damage to the lights and other equipment.
3. Portability
How portable your lighting equipment should be is directly related to the genre of YouTube videos you want to produce. If you are planning on shooting in studio conditions, then portability is not such an important factor, but if you want to shoot at a different location every day then portability becomes something you simply must consider.
4. Accessories
Most lightning kits include a number of handy accessories that help you achieve better results. Reflectors, barn doors, diffusers, scrims, and mounting accessories are all commonly featured in high-quality lighting kits, and you shouldn’t buy a kit that doesn’t offer at least some of the accessories we mentioned here.
5. All About Reflectors/Diffusers
White reflectors are used to simply bounce light. Silver reflectors make light a bit colder-looking, and gold reflectors give things a slightly warmer, more glamourous, look. Black and translucent ‘reflectors’ are not really for bouncing light. The black reflector blocks light, which is useful if you are trying to focus your main light so it is only lighting you and not everything behind you. The translucent reflector is actually a diffuser. Diffusers are usually set up between you and your main light to soften it and make it easier on your eyes.
Reflectors are used to bounce light towards your subject. They are great for filling shadows created by your main light. This reflector is five reflectors in one: silver, gold, black, white, and translucent.
Part 3: Best Lights and Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos
Consumer-level camera sensors are nowhere close to being as sensitive to light as our eyes. So a scene that may look sufficiently lit to our eyes may be too dark for the camera. When you’re shooting video indoors, you’ll need additional lighting equipment. Here are some of the top seventeen best lighting equipment for YouTubers.
List of the Top 5 Best On-Camera LED Lights
What is an On-Camera LED Light?
On-Camera LED lights are LED lights that can be mounted directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe (the little bracket on the top of a lot of DSLR cameras). On-camera LED lights are great for on-the-go YouTubers and YouTubers short on recording space because these lights are small and portable.
1. Julius Studio 160 LED Light with 4 Color Filters
The Julius Studio 160 LED light not only can be mounted on any digital camera that has a hot/cold shoe but it can also be mounted on light stands so you can keep the same light setting even if you are moving the camera around. This lighting equipment also comes with four color filters so that you can control the color temperature of your light.
2. Viltrox L116B highest RA CRI95 LED Light Panel
The VILTROX L116B LED light panel is a powerful piece of on-camera lighting equipment. As you can see from the back view of this light panel, you can see how much battery you have left as well as digitally set the color temperature of your light. It also features PWM light adjustment technology that reduces power consumption. As this equipment comes with an AC adapter, you can choose to use this outdoors or indoors.
3. Chromo Inc CI55000230 Macro Ring 48 LED Power Light
If you’re looking for an on-camera ring light, Chromo Inc’s macro ring light is a great option. This ring light mounts onto the lens of your SLR camera and its power source (two AA batteries) attaches to your camera’s hot/cold shoe. Get that nice-looking ring light reflection in your eyes as you film with this portable ring light!
4. Neewer CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
The Neewer 216 PCS LED dimmable light panel is powerful lighting equipment at a cheap price. You can adjust the color temperature of this light from 3200K up 5400K. This piece of equipment is only battery-powered, but you do have the option to either use six AA batteries or specific Sony NP series batteries, or Panasonic CGR-D16S rechargeable batteries.
5. Neewer 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel
This light is Neewer’s cheaper version of the CN-216. Instead of having 216 LED light bulbs, this light has 160 LED light bulbs. Other than the number of light bulbs, the two light panels are pretty much the same.
List of the Top 5 Best LED Ring Lights
LED ring lights are called ring lights because of their ring-like shape. The opening in the ring allows you to position your camera right in the center of this lighting equipment. These lights are great if you don’t have a lot of space.
1. Diva Ring Light Super Nova
The Diva ring light is a great ring light for divas, make-up artists, and anyone else wanting to look good right in front of the camera! This LED ring light has a dimming knob so that you can adjust the brightness of your light. It also comes with a cloth for you to diffuse your light (so that your light will be softer) and a gooseneck and z-bracket attachment if you want to use your camera and ring light with just one tripod.
2. Prismatic Halo Ring Light
The Prismatic Halo ring light is another great ring light option. It comes with a canvas travel bag, making it easier to store away or take around with you. The 110-120 VAC, 5400K light bulb produces light that can be dimmed as well. The Prismatic Halo Ring kit doesn’t include a light stand.
3. Neewer Dimmable 18” Ring Light
The 18-inch light ring uses fluorescent light. In addition, this kit includes a 59-inch light stand as well as white and orange filters and a hot shoe adapter that extends the capabilities of this affordable LED ring light kit.
4. FalconEyes DVR-300
With 300 pcs LED and 150 yellow color and 150 white-color lights, FalconEyes DVR-300 is one of the best ring lights currently available on the market. It also features two control dials that enable you to adjust the color of the light the device produces and a white diffuser that makes the light softer.
5. Neewer 14″ Ring Light
The 10-inch inner rim diameter may seem small when compared with larger ring lights that offer more room to operate. The Neewer Camera Ring Light is undimmable and has 50W power. The ring light uses an AC adapter, which makes it difficult to use when filming outside of a studio.
List of the Top 2 Best Softbox Video Lights
A softbox is commonly used by photographers and videographers to simulate natural light. This effect is achieved with the aid of a diffusion panel that is placed around the light source that produces continuous light. Softboxes are often less expensive than other professional lighting equipment which makes them a great option if you are working on a budget.
1. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox
This lighting system contains two 16x24-inch softboxes and an overhead hair light boom softbox. The stands for all three softboxes are included in the kit. Each light head is capable of holding up to four bulbs.
2. Fancierstudio 2400 Watt Professional Lighting Kit
This is a standard light setup you want to use when recording interviews, product reviews, or vlogs. It contains two 16x24-inch and one 16x16-inch softbox light that all have their own stands. Each lighthead can hold four 5500K fluorescent or daylight bulbs that are perfectly suited for work in studio conditions.
List of the Top 5 Best Umbrella Video Lights
Unlike ring lights or softboxes that provide directional light, the umbrella video lights basically bounce the light off a reflecting surface onto a subject and enable you to get a more balanced light in your videos. They are often combined with other lighting equipment to create natural scenes without hard shadows.
1. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Kit
In addition to three lamps (two white umbrellas with 86-inch light stands and one 28-inch light stand), this kit also comes with three 45W CFL bulbs. The lamps can be tilted upward or downward, so you can find the best light position for your shot. The 9-foot cords can be used with standard 110/120V USA sockets.
2. Neewer 8.5ft x 10ft Background With 600W Umbrella Kit
Besides featuring two umbrellas and two softboxes, this kit also includes a 6x9 feet background that is perfectly suited for video production in a home-based studio. This umbrella kit uses 45W bulbs that generate natural light and have an approximate color value of 5500K. However, both umbrellas and softboxes can hold just one bulb.
3. Emart 600W Studio Photography Photo/Video Portrait Kit
Chances are that you won’t need much more than what this photo/video kit has to offer. Emart’s 600W kit includes two white and two black/silver 33-inch umbrellas as well as two 83-inch light stands and a smaller 33-inch light stand. The heavy-duty carry case can store the entire kit.
4. LINCO 600W Photography/Video Continuous Lighting Kit
The Linco 600W continuous lighting kit contains two white translucent umbrellas that generate soft light, which is quite useful if you want to get even skin tones in your videos. The kit has three lamps that use 5500K 40W bulbs and light stands you can easily carry to any filming location.
5. Emart 1575W Umbrella Lighting Kit With Translucent White & Black/Silver & Black/Gold
The greatest advantage of this Emart 1575 W Lightning kit is the three pairs of 33-inch diameter translucent/white, black/silver, and black/gold umbrellas. The 105W daylight bulbs provide enough light to work even under the most difficult light conditions, while the lightweight stands enable you to use this kit outside of your studio.
Besides the best lighting equipment, we have also summarized some tips and tricks for lighting , you should check it as well. If you find the video lighting isn’t good after recording the video, you can still improve it by adjusting brightness in post-production. Wondershare Filmora video editor features the Auto enhance feature, which can adjust the video color and brightness with one click. You can download the free trial to try it out.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Enthralling Epics: Essential Channel-Building Tactics
The Best Storytelling Techniques to Grow Your YouTube Channel
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
In the distracting world, we live in, you need to be a good storyteller to grow your YouTube channel. Your audience is not going to stick around to watch your whole video if your content isn’t enticing or relatable. If you want to get people to watch all your videos, you need to get them emotionally invested with your stories.
Here are 3 methods for creating an awesome story:
1. Create Suspense
The hero has an objective, but the plan might fail.
The likelihood of something going wrong is what makes a story suspenseful. When you tell a suspenseful story, your audience will have a heightened focus and a strong motivation to continue listening. They want to know if the hero succeeds. Keep the audience waiting and expecting. Don’t give away the ending right away.
What Does a Suspenseful Story Sound Like?
When we talk about a story that is dragging on, it is because there is no suspense. There is nothing at stake, there are no obstacles, there is no problem and, with no problem, there is no promise of resolution.
Here are a few examples you can use to pump more suspense into your story:
- Address a fear (example: being alone for the prom)
- An objective (example: asking the crush out to the dance)
- Consequences of failing (example: being embarrassed in front of the whole school)
- Limited time (example: prom is next week)
- Obstacles (example: the crush has an aggressive ex.)
You can feel your heart rate speeding up simply thinking about the character’s story in the example. Does it have a happy ending or not? We want to know!
Raise Questions After Questions
A good storyteller knows that as soon as they answer a question for their audience, they need to present another one. The audience will always need to have a puzzle in their mind, one that needs to be solved. That is what will keep their interest.
For example: If the hero ends up going to the prom with his crush, the next big question can be: Will they kiss at the last dance?
This continues building on the tension and increasing the stakes evermore.
Check out the suspenseful story from YouTuber, MissRemiAshten . The way she tells the story, we discover more and about her psycho neighbor and the incident gradually. A little bit of information about the neighbor is revealed at a time… not all at once.
Include a Cliffhanger
We’ve all had those moments at the end of an intense television show where we are shouting at the screen because it suddenly cut to black as the main characters were left in a precarious position. That emotional outburst is brought to us by a good cliffhanger, and a good cliffhanger can assure us that the audience will return for more.
But there needs to be more! A cliffhanger is a promise to the viewer that eventually they will be rewarded for their patience and it will be satisfying.
In this cliffhanger from Casey Neistat, he simply asks us a question, “Was that good?” This calls upon us to recall all the awesome YouTube videos we have seen created by filmmakers that aren’t considered “prestigious.” A cliffhanger does not have to end with an epic reveal; it can wrap up with loose ends and allow the audience to tie it up themselves.
How to Deliver a Good Cliffhanger
Applying good cliffhangers to your YouTube videos is a balancing act. You want to draw your audience in, but you also need to have a payoff that is worth the wait.
Done well, a cliffhanger will leave your audience wanting more. Done poorly, a cliffhanger will leave your audience feeling to mislead and a little ripped off, hesitant to listen to more stories from you.
A good cliffhanger does not have to be life or death, but it does have to be the moment the story has been leading up to.
Before you start telling your story, consider the key details that are most impactful.
Once you have the points you want to hit, plan out the reveal. Weave the story together, but withhold the pivotal details until the cliffhanger. Thendeliver it on camera confidently .
Here are two ways you can present your cliffhanger for amplified effect:
1. Slow Down and Have Pauses
As your story intensifies, bring the pace down — or stop completely. The silence becomes the cliffhanger. It can last a second or more, depending on how confident you are in the tension you have built.
Your next words or shots can be the reveal. If you are skilled enough, you can lead into another story one that connects to the previous. If you are trying this, make sure that in the end, the payoff has double the impact. The reveal needs to be twice as powerful if you are going to take the audience on another journey before wrapping up and answering the long-awaited questions.
2. Use Repetition
Whether you want to misdirect your audience or hammer home a point, using repetition throughout your story will help you build the tension you need to establish the cliffhanger.
In this example, we see YouTuber, A little bit of Monika uses both pace and repetition in her storytelling method.
The video starts off at a speedy pace, all the way until the last scene where the confrontation occurs. That’s her slowing down the story so that we are all anticipating the reveal. Is she or is she not actor, Saoirse Ronan?
Through this short video, the repetition of the name is used to show her confidence that her roommate is not who she said it is. The more affirming she becomes, the more likely we as the viewers are going to side with her. This is a simple example of misdirection.
The more you say something or show something, the more important it becomes for the audience — at least, you want it to appear important.
2. Use Empathy
A storyteller must be empathetic.
If your audience cannot empathize with what you are communicating, it would not have the intended effect. Storytelling is all about taking people out of their bodies and putting them in someone else’s.
If you are telling a story about the time your car broke down, you want people to empathize and feel the helplessness of being stuck on a highway, waving cars down to help.
Empathy makes people feel more human. Telling a story people can relate to, even if it didn’t happen to them, is a sign of a quality storyteller.
Don’t Use Too Many Facts and Figures
If you began your story by saying that 1/1,000 cars on the highway break down, that doesn’t evoke any major emotion. There is nothing human about it.
It’s an interesting stat, sure, but the audience is unsure how they should respond. Is that a lot? Is that because of the highway? Is it because of the drivers? Nobody knows… it’s numbered with no context.
However, if you told the story about that time you had to abandon your vehicle and walk down the highway in order to make your important appointment. Suddenly, the audience can empathize with the tribulations you have gone through.
Facts and figures are useful in reports, but not as much in compelling stories.
Evoke the Senses
If I talk about hot melting chocolate, standing in the rain, or the smell of your grandmother’s bedroom, your senses are activated. From all your life experiences, your brain is able to form familiar sensations without any physical changes to your surrounding. That’s the power of storytelling.
Good storytellers use these sensory details and descriptive imagery to spice up a story. This draws the audience in and gives them a more immersive experience when listening to your stories.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does it smell like?
- What can you hear?
- What do you see?
- What can you physically feel?
This example from YouTuber, Kiril Dobrev perfectly exemplifies what sensory igniting storytelling can do. He illustrates the sensation of being in Hong Kong, not simply through visuals but physical motions and audio effects.
Use Metaphors
As a YouTube storyteller, sometimes you will have to communicate complex ideas. When that happens, use a metaphor to increase the impact.
If you are telling a story about how much you dislike your teacher, you can list off all the ways she is unlikable or you can sum it up with a line like this: “My teacher makes the school a prison.”
That is a metaphor comparing school to prison. Most people haven’t been to prison, but understand what the metaphor is insinuating. School is not a fun place to be because of that teacher.
By connecting two different things, you allow the audience to paint the image in their mind quickly. It doesn’t take a lot of words to create a memorable metaphor. I encourage you to use metaphors anytime you need to address something complicated.
3. Take the Audience on a Meaningful Journey
Perhaps the most important element of a good story is that the journey is meaningful.
- Is it educational?
- Is it entertaining?
- Is it motivational or inspiring?
Knowing how you want to leave your audience feeling is foresight that will improve your YouTube storytelling abilities. Before you start telling your tale, ask: How do I want to change my audience?
YouTuber, Jamie Windsor tells a few stories connected to creativity and plagiarism. Anyone who has ever created anything can relate to his story and thus his audience can empathize.
It is also clear as a viewer that at the end of this 15-minute long video, his audience will have gone on a meaningful journey with him.
His story is a cautionary tale. He wants to educate us so that we can avoid making the same mistakes he did. He used his real-life experience to teach us and that makes it a meaningful video to watch. That was a good story.
Are there any YouTubers that you consider to be fantastic storytellers? Please share it in the comments box below.
Select a Versatile Video Editing Software to Stand Up from Numerous YouTubers
Users worldwide highly recommend Filmora because it comes loaded with various features, which helps to discover the editing skills, add an image to the imagination, and empower creativity.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
In the distracting world, we live in, you need to be a good storyteller to grow your YouTube channel. Your audience is not going to stick around to watch your whole video if your content isn’t enticing or relatable. If you want to get people to watch all your videos, you need to get them emotionally invested with your stories.
Here are 3 methods for creating an awesome story:
1. Create Suspense
The hero has an objective, but the plan might fail.
The likelihood of something going wrong is what makes a story suspenseful. When you tell a suspenseful story, your audience will have a heightened focus and a strong motivation to continue listening. They want to know if the hero succeeds. Keep the audience waiting and expecting. Don’t give away the ending right away.
What Does a Suspenseful Story Sound Like?
When we talk about a story that is dragging on, it is because there is no suspense. There is nothing at stake, there are no obstacles, there is no problem and, with no problem, there is no promise of resolution.
Here are a few examples you can use to pump more suspense into your story:
- Address a fear (example: being alone for the prom)
- An objective (example: asking the crush out to the dance)
- Consequences of failing (example: being embarrassed in front of the whole school)
- Limited time (example: prom is next week)
- Obstacles (example: the crush has an aggressive ex.)
You can feel your heart rate speeding up simply thinking about the character’s story in the example. Does it have a happy ending or not? We want to know!
Raise Questions After Questions
A good storyteller knows that as soon as they answer a question for their audience, they need to present another one. The audience will always need to have a puzzle in their mind, one that needs to be solved. That is what will keep their interest.
For example: If the hero ends up going to the prom with his crush, the next big question can be: Will they kiss at the last dance?
This continues building on the tension and increasing the stakes evermore.
Check out the suspenseful story from YouTuber, MissRemiAshten . The way she tells the story, we discover more and about her psycho neighbor and the incident gradually. A little bit of information about the neighbor is revealed at a time… not all at once.
Include a Cliffhanger
We’ve all had those moments at the end of an intense television show where we are shouting at the screen because it suddenly cut to black as the main characters were left in a precarious position. That emotional outburst is brought to us by a good cliffhanger, and a good cliffhanger can assure us that the audience will return for more.
But there needs to be more! A cliffhanger is a promise to the viewer that eventually they will be rewarded for their patience and it will be satisfying.
In this cliffhanger from Casey Neistat, he simply asks us a question, “Was that good?” This calls upon us to recall all the awesome YouTube videos we have seen created by filmmakers that aren’t considered “prestigious.” A cliffhanger does not have to end with an epic reveal; it can wrap up with loose ends and allow the audience to tie it up themselves.
How to Deliver a Good Cliffhanger
Applying good cliffhangers to your YouTube videos is a balancing act. You want to draw your audience in, but you also need to have a payoff that is worth the wait.
Done well, a cliffhanger will leave your audience wanting more. Done poorly, a cliffhanger will leave your audience feeling to mislead and a little ripped off, hesitant to listen to more stories from you.
A good cliffhanger does not have to be life or death, but it does have to be the moment the story has been leading up to.
Before you start telling your story, consider the key details that are most impactful.
Once you have the points you want to hit, plan out the reveal. Weave the story together, but withhold the pivotal details until the cliffhanger. Thendeliver it on camera confidently .
Here are two ways you can present your cliffhanger for amplified effect:
1. Slow Down and Have Pauses
As your story intensifies, bring the pace down — or stop completely. The silence becomes the cliffhanger. It can last a second or more, depending on how confident you are in the tension you have built.
Your next words or shots can be the reveal. If you are skilled enough, you can lead into another story one that connects to the previous. If you are trying this, make sure that in the end, the payoff has double the impact. The reveal needs to be twice as powerful if you are going to take the audience on another journey before wrapping up and answering the long-awaited questions.
2. Use Repetition
Whether you want to misdirect your audience or hammer home a point, using repetition throughout your story will help you build the tension you need to establish the cliffhanger.
In this example, we see YouTuber, A little bit of Monika uses both pace and repetition in her storytelling method.
The video starts off at a speedy pace, all the way until the last scene where the confrontation occurs. That’s her slowing down the story so that we are all anticipating the reveal. Is she or is she not actor, Saoirse Ronan?
Through this short video, the repetition of the name is used to show her confidence that her roommate is not who she said it is. The more affirming she becomes, the more likely we as the viewers are going to side with her. This is a simple example of misdirection.
The more you say something or show something, the more important it becomes for the audience — at least, you want it to appear important.
2. Use Empathy
A storyteller must be empathetic.
If your audience cannot empathize with what you are communicating, it would not have the intended effect. Storytelling is all about taking people out of their bodies and putting them in someone else’s.
If you are telling a story about the time your car broke down, you want people to empathize and feel the helplessness of being stuck on a highway, waving cars down to help.
Empathy makes people feel more human. Telling a story people can relate to, even if it didn’t happen to them, is a sign of a quality storyteller.
Don’t Use Too Many Facts and Figures
If you began your story by saying that 1/1,000 cars on the highway break down, that doesn’t evoke any major emotion. There is nothing human about it.
It’s an interesting stat, sure, but the audience is unsure how they should respond. Is that a lot? Is that because of the highway? Is it because of the drivers? Nobody knows… it’s numbered with no context.
However, if you told the story about that time you had to abandon your vehicle and walk down the highway in order to make your important appointment. Suddenly, the audience can empathize with the tribulations you have gone through.
Facts and figures are useful in reports, but not as much in compelling stories.
Evoke the Senses
If I talk about hot melting chocolate, standing in the rain, or the smell of your grandmother’s bedroom, your senses are activated. From all your life experiences, your brain is able to form familiar sensations without any physical changes to your surrounding. That’s the power of storytelling.
Good storytellers use these sensory details and descriptive imagery to spice up a story. This draws the audience in and gives them a more immersive experience when listening to your stories.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does it smell like?
- What can you hear?
- What do you see?
- What can you physically feel?
This example from YouTuber, Kiril Dobrev perfectly exemplifies what sensory igniting storytelling can do. He illustrates the sensation of being in Hong Kong, not simply through visuals but physical motions and audio effects.
Use Metaphors
As a YouTube storyteller, sometimes you will have to communicate complex ideas. When that happens, use a metaphor to increase the impact.
If you are telling a story about how much you dislike your teacher, you can list off all the ways she is unlikable or you can sum it up with a line like this: “My teacher makes the school a prison.”
That is a metaphor comparing school to prison. Most people haven’t been to prison, but understand what the metaphor is insinuating. School is not a fun place to be because of that teacher.
By connecting two different things, you allow the audience to paint the image in their mind quickly. It doesn’t take a lot of words to create a memorable metaphor. I encourage you to use metaphors anytime you need to address something complicated.
3. Take the Audience on a Meaningful Journey
Perhaps the most important element of a good story is that the journey is meaningful.
- Is it educational?
- Is it entertaining?
- Is it motivational or inspiring?
Knowing how you want to leave your audience feeling is foresight that will improve your YouTube storytelling abilities. Before you start telling your tale, ask: How do I want to change my audience?
YouTuber, Jamie Windsor tells a few stories connected to creativity and plagiarism. Anyone who has ever created anything can relate to his story and thus his audience can empathize.
It is also clear as a viewer that at the end of this 15-minute long video, his audience will have gone on a meaningful journey with him.
His story is a cautionary tale. He wants to educate us so that we can avoid making the same mistakes he did. He used his real-life experience to teach us and that makes it a meaningful video to watch. That was a good story.
Are there any YouTubers that you consider to be fantastic storytellers? Please share it in the comments box below.
Select a Versatile Video Editing Software to Stand Up from Numerous YouTubers
Users worldwide highly recommend Filmora because it comes loaded with various features, which helps to discover the editing skills, add an image to the imagination, and empower creativity.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
In the distracting world, we live in, you need to be a good storyteller to grow your YouTube channel. Your audience is not going to stick around to watch your whole video if your content isn’t enticing or relatable. If you want to get people to watch all your videos, you need to get them emotionally invested with your stories.
Here are 3 methods for creating an awesome story:
1. Create Suspense
The hero has an objective, but the plan might fail.
The likelihood of something going wrong is what makes a story suspenseful. When you tell a suspenseful story, your audience will have a heightened focus and a strong motivation to continue listening. They want to know if the hero succeeds. Keep the audience waiting and expecting. Don’t give away the ending right away.
What Does a Suspenseful Story Sound Like?
When we talk about a story that is dragging on, it is because there is no suspense. There is nothing at stake, there are no obstacles, there is no problem and, with no problem, there is no promise of resolution.
Here are a few examples you can use to pump more suspense into your story:
- Address a fear (example: being alone for the prom)
- An objective (example: asking the crush out to the dance)
- Consequences of failing (example: being embarrassed in front of the whole school)
- Limited time (example: prom is next week)
- Obstacles (example: the crush has an aggressive ex.)
You can feel your heart rate speeding up simply thinking about the character’s story in the example. Does it have a happy ending or not? We want to know!
Raise Questions After Questions
A good storyteller knows that as soon as they answer a question for their audience, they need to present another one. The audience will always need to have a puzzle in their mind, one that needs to be solved. That is what will keep their interest.
For example: If the hero ends up going to the prom with his crush, the next big question can be: Will they kiss at the last dance?
This continues building on the tension and increasing the stakes evermore.
Check out the suspenseful story from YouTuber, MissRemiAshten . The way she tells the story, we discover more and about her psycho neighbor and the incident gradually. A little bit of information about the neighbor is revealed at a time… not all at once.
Include a Cliffhanger
We’ve all had those moments at the end of an intense television show where we are shouting at the screen because it suddenly cut to black as the main characters were left in a precarious position. That emotional outburst is brought to us by a good cliffhanger, and a good cliffhanger can assure us that the audience will return for more.
But there needs to be more! A cliffhanger is a promise to the viewer that eventually they will be rewarded for their patience and it will be satisfying.
In this cliffhanger from Casey Neistat, he simply asks us a question, “Was that good?” This calls upon us to recall all the awesome YouTube videos we have seen created by filmmakers that aren’t considered “prestigious.” A cliffhanger does not have to end with an epic reveal; it can wrap up with loose ends and allow the audience to tie it up themselves.
How to Deliver a Good Cliffhanger
Applying good cliffhangers to your YouTube videos is a balancing act. You want to draw your audience in, but you also need to have a payoff that is worth the wait.
Done well, a cliffhanger will leave your audience wanting more. Done poorly, a cliffhanger will leave your audience feeling to mislead and a little ripped off, hesitant to listen to more stories from you.
A good cliffhanger does not have to be life or death, but it does have to be the moment the story has been leading up to.
Before you start telling your story, consider the key details that are most impactful.
Once you have the points you want to hit, plan out the reveal. Weave the story together, but withhold the pivotal details until the cliffhanger. Thendeliver it on camera confidently .
Here are two ways you can present your cliffhanger for amplified effect:
1. Slow Down and Have Pauses
As your story intensifies, bring the pace down — or stop completely. The silence becomes the cliffhanger. It can last a second or more, depending on how confident you are in the tension you have built.
Your next words or shots can be the reveal. If you are skilled enough, you can lead into another story one that connects to the previous. If you are trying this, make sure that in the end, the payoff has double the impact. The reveal needs to be twice as powerful if you are going to take the audience on another journey before wrapping up and answering the long-awaited questions.
2. Use Repetition
Whether you want to misdirect your audience or hammer home a point, using repetition throughout your story will help you build the tension you need to establish the cliffhanger.
In this example, we see YouTuber, A little bit of Monika uses both pace and repetition in her storytelling method.
The video starts off at a speedy pace, all the way until the last scene where the confrontation occurs. That’s her slowing down the story so that we are all anticipating the reveal. Is she or is she not actor, Saoirse Ronan?
Through this short video, the repetition of the name is used to show her confidence that her roommate is not who she said it is. The more affirming she becomes, the more likely we as the viewers are going to side with her. This is a simple example of misdirection.
The more you say something or show something, the more important it becomes for the audience — at least, you want it to appear important.
2. Use Empathy
A storyteller must be empathetic.
If your audience cannot empathize with what you are communicating, it would not have the intended effect. Storytelling is all about taking people out of their bodies and putting them in someone else’s.
If you are telling a story about the time your car broke down, you want people to empathize and feel the helplessness of being stuck on a highway, waving cars down to help.
Empathy makes people feel more human. Telling a story people can relate to, even if it didn’t happen to them, is a sign of a quality storyteller.
Don’t Use Too Many Facts and Figures
If you began your story by saying that 1/1,000 cars on the highway break down, that doesn’t evoke any major emotion. There is nothing human about it.
It’s an interesting stat, sure, but the audience is unsure how they should respond. Is that a lot? Is that because of the highway? Is it because of the drivers? Nobody knows… it’s numbered with no context.
However, if you told the story about that time you had to abandon your vehicle and walk down the highway in order to make your important appointment. Suddenly, the audience can empathize with the tribulations you have gone through.
Facts and figures are useful in reports, but not as much in compelling stories.
Evoke the Senses
If I talk about hot melting chocolate, standing in the rain, or the smell of your grandmother’s bedroom, your senses are activated. From all your life experiences, your brain is able to form familiar sensations without any physical changes to your surrounding. That’s the power of storytelling.
Good storytellers use these sensory details and descriptive imagery to spice up a story. This draws the audience in and gives them a more immersive experience when listening to your stories.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does it smell like?
- What can you hear?
- What do you see?
- What can you physically feel?
This example from YouTuber, Kiril Dobrev perfectly exemplifies what sensory igniting storytelling can do. He illustrates the sensation of being in Hong Kong, not simply through visuals but physical motions and audio effects.
Use Metaphors
As a YouTube storyteller, sometimes you will have to communicate complex ideas. When that happens, use a metaphor to increase the impact.
If you are telling a story about how much you dislike your teacher, you can list off all the ways she is unlikable or you can sum it up with a line like this: “My teacher makes the school a prison.”
That is a metaphor comparing school to prison. Most people haven’t been to prison, but understand what the metaphor is insinuating. School is not a fun place to be because of that teacher.
By connecting two different things, you allow the audience to paint the image in their mind quickly. It doesn’t take a lot of words to create a memorable metaphor. I encourage you to use metaphors anytime you need to address something complicated.
3. Take the Audience on a Meaningful Journey
Perhaps the most important element of a good story is that the journey is meaningful.
- Is it educational?
- Is it entertaining?
- Is it motivational or inspiring?
Knowing how you want to leave your audience feeling is foresight that will improve your YouTube storytelling abilities. Before you start telling your tale, ask: How do I want to change my audience?
YouTuber, Jamie Windsor tells a few stories connected to creativity and plagiarism. Anyone who has ever created anything can relate to his story and thus his audience can empathize.
It is also clear as a viewer that at the end of this 15-minute long video, his audience will have gone on a meaningful journey with him.
His story is a cautionary tale. He wants to educate us so that we can avoid making the same mistakes he did. He used his real-life experience to teach us and that makes it a meaningful video to watch. That was a good story.
Are there any YouTubers that you consider to be fantastic storytellers? Please share it in the comments box below.
Select a Versatile Video Editing Software to Stand Up from Numerous YouTubers
Users worldwide highly recommend Filmora because it comes loaded with various features, which helps to discover the editing skills, add an image to the imagination, and empower creativity.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
In the distracting world, we live in, you need to be a good storyteller to grow your YouTube channel. Your audience is not going to stick around to watch your whole video if your content isn’t enticing or relatable. If you want to get people to watch all your videos, you need to get them emotionally invested with your stories.
Here are 3 methods for creating an awesome story:
1. Create Suspense
The hero has an objective, but the plan might fail.
The likelihood of something going wrong is what makes a story suspenseful. When you tell a suspenseful story, your audience will have a heightened focus and a strong motivation to continue listening. They want to know if the hero succeeds. Keep the audience waiting and expecting. Don’t give away the ending right away.
What Does a Suspenseful Story Sound Like?
When we talk about a story that is dragging on, it is because there is no suspense. There is nothing at stake, there are no obstacles, there is no problem and, with no problem, there is no promise of resolution.
Here are a few examples you can use to pump more suspense into your story:
- Address a fear (example: being alone for the prom)
- An objective (example: asking the crush out to the dance)
- Consequences of failing (example: being embarrassed in front of the whole school)
- Limited time (example: prom is next week)
- Obstacles (example: the crush has an aggressive ex.)
You can feel your heart rate speeding up simply thinking about the character’s story in the example. Does it have a happy ending or not? We want to know!
Raise Questions After Questions
A good storyteller knows that as soon as they answer a question for their audience, they need to present another one. The audience will always need to have a puzzle in their mind, one that needs to be solved. That is what will keep their interest.
For example: If the hero ends up going to the prom with his crush, the next big question can be: Will they kiss at the last dance?
This continues building on the tension and increasing the stakes evermore.
Check out the suspenseful story from YouTuber, MissRemiAshten . The way she tells the story, we discover more and about her psycho neighbor and the incident gradually. A little bit of information about the neighbor is revealed at a time… not all at once.
Include a Cliffhanger
We’ve all had those moments at the end of an intense television show where we are shouting at the screen because it suddenly cut to black as the main characters were left in a precarious position. That emotional outburst is brought to us by a good cliffhanger, and a good cliffhanger can assure us that the audience will return for more.
But there needs to be more! A cliffhanger is a promise to the viewer that eventually they will be rewarded for their patience and it will be satisfying.
In this cliffhanger from Casey Neistat, he simply asks us a question, “Was that good?” This calls upon us to recall all the awesome YouTube videos we have seen created by filmmakers that aren’t considered “prestigious.” A cliffhanger does not have to end with an epic reveal; it can wrap up with loose ends and allow the audience to tie it up themselves.
How to Deliver a Good Cliffhanger
Applying good cliffhangers to your YouTube videos is a balancing act. You want to draw your audience in, but you also need to have a payoff that is worth the wait.
Done well, a cliffhanger will leave your audience wanting more. Done poorly, a cliffhanger will leave your audience feeling to mislead and a little ripped off, hesitant to listen to more stories from you.
A good cliffhanger does not have to be life or death, but it does have to be the moment the story has been leading up to.
Before you start telling your story, consider the key details that are most impactful.
Once you have the points you want to hit, plan out the reveal. Weave the story together, but withhold the pivotal details until the cliffhanger. Thendeliver it on camera confidently .
Here are two ways you can present your cliffhanger for amplified effect:
1. Slow Down and Have Pauses
As your story intensifies, bring the pace down — or stop completely. The silence becomes the cliffhanger. It can last a second or more, depending on how confident you are in the tension you have built.
Your next words or shots can be the reveal. If you are skilled enough, you can lead into another story one that connects to the previous. If you are trying this, make sure that in the end, the payoff has double the impact. The reveal needs to be twice as powerful if you are going to take the audience on another journey before wrapping up and answering the long-awaited questions.
2. Use Repetition
Whether you want to misdirect your audience or hammer home a point, using repetition throughout your story will help you build the tension you need to establish the cliffhanger.
In this example, we see YouTuber, A little bit of Monika uses both pace and repetition in her storytelling method.
The video starts off at a speedy pace, all the way until the last scene where the confrontation occurs. That’s her slowing down the story so that we are all anticipating the reveal. Is she or is she not actor, Saoirse Ronan?
Through this short video, the repetition of the name is used to show her confidence that her roommate is not who she said it is. The more affirming she becomes, the more likely we as the viewers are going to side with her. This is a simple example of misdirection.
The more you say something or show something, the more important it becomes for the audience — at least, you want it to appear important.
2. Use Empathy
A storyteller must be empathetic.
If your audience cannot empathize with what you are communicating, it would not have the intended effect. Storytelling is all about taking people out of their bodies and putting them in someone else’s.
If you are telling a story about the time your car broke down, you want people to empathize and feel the helplessness of being stuck on a highway, waving cars down to help.
Empathy makes people feel more human. Telling a story people can relate to, even if it didn’t happen to them, is a sign of a quality storyteller.
Don’t Use Too Many Facts and Figures
If you began your story by saying that 1/1,000 cars on the highway break down, that doesn’t evoke any major emotion. There is nothing human about it.
It’s an interesting stat, sure, but the audience is unsure how they should respond. Is that a lot? Is that because of the highway? Is it because of the drivers? Nobody knows… it’s numbered with no context.
However, if you told the story about that time you had to abandon your vehicle and walk down the highway in order to make your important appointment. Suddenly, the audience can empathize with the tribulations you have gone through.
Facts and figures are useful in reports, but not as much in compelling stories.
Evoke the Senses
If I talk about hot melting chocolate, standing in the rain, or the smell of your grandmother’s bedroom, your senses are activated. From all your life experiences, your brain is able to form familiar sensations without any physical changes to your surrounding. That’s the power of storytelling.
Good storytellers use these sensory details and descriptive imagery to spice up a story. This draws the audience in and gives them a more immersive experience when listening to your stories.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does it smell like?
- What can you hear?
- What do you see?
- What can you physically feel?
This example from YouTuber, Kiril Dobrev perfectly exemplifies what sensory igniting storytelling can do. He illustrates the sensation of being in Hong Kong, not simply through visuals but physical motions and audio effects.
Use Metaphors
As a YouTube storyteller, sometimes you will have to communicate complex ideas. When that happens, use a metaphor to increase the impact.
If you are telling a story about how much you dislike your teacher, you can list off all the ways she is unlikable or you can sum it up with a line like this: “My teacher makes the school a prison.”
That is a metaphor comparing school to prison. Most people haven’t been to prison, but understand what the metaphor is insinuating. School is not a fun place to be because of that teacher.
By connecting two different things, you allow the audience to paint the image in their mind quickly. It doesn’t take a lot of words to create a memorable metaphor. I encourage you to use metaphors anytime you need to address something complicated.
3. Take the Audience on a Meaningful Journey
Perhaps the most important element of a good story is that the journey is meaningful.
- Is it educational?
- Is it entertaining?
- Is it motivational or inspiring?
Knowing how you want to leave your audience feeling is foresight that will improve your YouTube storytelling abilities. Before you start telling your tale, ask: How do I want to change my audience?
YouTuber, Jamie Windsor tells a few stories connected to creativity and plagiarism. Anyone who has ever created anything can relate to his story and thus his audience can empathize.
It is also clear as a viewer that at the end of this 15-minute long video, his audience will have gone on a meaningful journey with him.
His story is a cautionary tale. He wants to educate us so that we can avoid making the same mistakes he did. He used his real-life experience to teach us and that makes it a meaningful video to watch. That was a good story.
Are there any YouTubers that you consider to be fantastic storytellers? Please share it in the comments box below.
Select a Versatile Video Editing Software to Stand Up from Numerous YouTubers
Users worldwide highly recommend Filmora because it comes loaded with various features, which helps to discover the editing skills, add an image to the imagination, and empower creativity.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
- Title: "2024 Approved Lights, Camera, Action! - YouTube's #17 Essentials"
- Author: Thomas
- Created at : 2024-05-31 12:39:59
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 12:39:59
- Link: https://youtube-help.techidaily.com/2024-approved-lights-camera-action-youtubes-17-essentials/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
